Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, surnamed the Great, was the most famous military leader of all time, having lived only 33 years. This cruel and calculating commander was able to create a powerful state, which did not know the world without losing with no battle for eleven years of war.

Alexander the Great was the son of King Philip II, a childhood favorite reading heir to the throne were heroic poems of Homer, and their idols, Alexander thought the Trojan War hero Achilles and the mythical strongman Hercules.

While in Macedonia, situated at the northern edge of Greece, are striving to prove his connection with Greek culture. With 13 years of education Alexander was outstanding Greek philosopher -   Aristotle . He taught the young man not only ethics and logic, but also endurance, balance and self-control. Alexander said that he owed ​​his life to his father and mentor Aristotle ability to live with dignity.

After the assassination of King Philip II, Alexander was twenty enthroned. Brutally suppressed the resistance of the Greeks broke out, he destroyed the city of Thebes, and then began to prepare for the trip to the east. Alexander tried to beat around the father and wanted not only to conquer the mighty Persian kingdom, but their power and subjugate all the then known inhabited world. "In a universe of countless worlds, and I have not won, and one."

In the spring, 334 BC, Alexander, led sorokatysyachnoy army crossed the Pont, the current Dardanelles and started a war with Persia. In the battle at the river Granicus and of Issa, the army of Persian King Darius III was defeated. The Persians lost the entire fleet and lost the Macedonian Mediterranean. Alexander proved to be the real father of his soldiers. He took care of the wounded and families of dead soldiers ordered the release of tax. The historian Plutarch wrote: "When Alexander began the siege of Tyre Phoenician many residents had a dream that the enemy wanted to move the statue of Apollo. Then Tyrians statue entangled ropes and pinned to the pedestal, calling aleksandristom with Apollo." Although the statue has remained true to its residents after a seven-month siege of the Great conquered the city. This success opened the way to the commander in the Nile Valley. In gratitude for the liberation of Egypt from Persian rule, 24 year old Alexander was proclaimed son of the god Amun and the pharaoh. After the capture of the Persian Empire, the Great invaded Bactria and Sogdiana, it is now in Afghanistan and Central Asia. According to legend, to become a full-fledged master of Asia, Alexander had to solve the Phrygian King Gordy - unleash extremely intricate knot. Alexander the Great did not hesitate to take up the sword and cut the knot. Since then, the phrase "cut the Gordian knot" has come to mean a quick and bold decision difficult question.

To assert their power in the conquered territory of Alexander founded over 20 cities and fortresses. Since then trace their history of Gerad and Kandahar in Afghanistan, and Alexandria in Egypt. In the 11 years of its power commander created a vast empire stretching from India to Istria, the current of the Danube, and from the Balkans to Lower Egypt. Only fatigue troops forced Alexander to turn back. For two years his army back from India to Babylon, the capital of the new, huge state.

Macedonian engaged reorganization of his empire, he called on the Persian army, attracted the Persian nobility to government, he married the daughter of the Persian king Darius - shekel. Alexander once threw a party, the so-called marriage of East and West. Several thousand Macedonian soldiers married to Persian.

But then, Alexander the Great demanded that in his honor, in Greece, temples, monuments established and provided the same honors as his illustrious ancestor Heracles. On this occasion he Demosthenes quipped: "This young man wants altars, let them built, what nonsense." But when Alexander wanted to enter Greece Persian court ceremonial, the Greeks did not want to fall down before the governor. Macedonian ruthless with unhappy. One day, his foster brother named Crete, at the Battle of Granicus king saved lives, said that the exploits of Alexander the Great are all Macedonians. Then Alexander grabbed the guard's spear and killed his friend. Great, trying to outdo Hercules wanted to conquer Arabia, North Africa and vplyt the Mediterranean through the Pillars of Hercules. But his grand plans did not materialize.

10 June 323 BC, the great commander suddenly died from malaria. Huge country, which he created, was not strong and was divided his military commanders. But Greek culture spread in Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Judea and Egypt. Alexander the Great, known as the Great, brought the civilization of Greece and the Middle East and started the period of Hellenism.